He asked a question which required as an answer a verse in the Bible. To the president’s embarrassment, “Splinter’s” hand was high above the others and he kept a continual snapping of his fingers. He was determined to be recognized. The president was in hopes the speaker would pay no attention to him, fearing the reply would spoil the effect of the speaker’s talk. However “Splinter” managed to be heard. “That tall boy may answer,” said the minister. The sweat rolled down the president’s forehead as he tried to get back into his chair. “Splinter” arose, not a smile on his face. He looked serious, and without a quiver in his voice repeated, word for word, one of the longest verses in the Bible, and which gave an appropriate answer. The speaker looked as surprised as the president, and the compliment he gave the boy was appreciated by all. “Splinter’s” education, after that, was looked after. CHAPTER XVI. An interesting case came to the president showing how one family can disgrace an entire neighborhood; can give a bad name to a whole street. On one of the small narrow streets within the two-mile circle, lived a family, man woman and five boys. One of the boys, a young man, served a term in the penitentiary for robbery. The names of two of them appeared on the police station blotter about three times a year for drunkenness. It was on account of these boys that the neighborhood gained such a bad reputation. The other two boys, John and Tom, ages nine and twelve, were newsboys. Boys who were driven from home, by the parents, “to get something to eat elsewhere.” They frequently slept in stairways, old buildings, cellar-ways or any place where they could find shelter from the storms, or where they thought they would not be disturbed. These two newsboys were doing more to ruin boys on the street than the entire membership of the association, and when they came into the president’s office seeking admission, the president concluded that if these boys could be saved, and their bad acts turned into good, Boyville would be a success. It wasn’t necessary to ask them if they were eligible to membership, if they sold papers, if they were newsboys. Every word, every act told all that was required. With all the rags, and dirt, and slang talk, these boys were up-to-date in everything. All the leading topics of the day were discussed by them. Every base-ball player they knew by name, and it was discovered that all newsies followed them when they wanted to get into a ball-ground free, or into a circus. They had their own way, and without money. They feared nothing. They worked for themselves only. The little sympathy they had for any one was drowned in their eagerness to move on. They gave no thought for the morrow. There was no hesitancy by the officers in giving these boys membership cards, and when they received them, to the question, “Well, now boys, what does this mean?” they answered: “We mean to lick any one as doesn’t do right.”